TAVR vs Open-Heart Surgery

Newswise — A new study from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai and other centers nationwide shows that patients who underwent a minimally invasive transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR), had similar key 5-year clinical outcomes of death and stroke as patients who had traditional open-heart surgery to replace the valve.

The study, the PARTNER 2A study, compares long-term outcomes of the two different approaches to treating aortic stenosis, a common heart problem affecting some 12% of people over 65. The research, involving more than 2,000 patients, was published today by The New England Journal of Medicine and will appear in the Feb. 27 print edition.

"The results of this study are encouraging because TAVR was comparable in terms of outcomes," said study lead author Raj Makkar, MD, vice president of Cardiovascular Innovation and Intervention at Cedars-Sinai. "These findings allow patients to have more peace of mind and undergo a less invasive procedure. Unlike surgery, TAVR is now often done without or with minimal anesthesia and with next-day discharge from the hospital."

Aortic stenosis often results in death within three years of diagnosis. Replacing the aortic valve – either through the TAVR procedure or surgery – restores patients' life expectancy to normal. During 2019, more than 100,000 patients underwent TAVR procedures in the U.S., compared to about 50,000 patients who had aortic valve replacement with open-heart surgery.

Study investigators at 57 medical centers followed approximately 1,000 aortic stenosis patients who underwent the minimally invasive procedure and 1,000 patients who underwent open-heart surgery. The patients were followed for 5 years, beginning in 2011. Investigators found...

 

Read the full press release.